Volume 1, Issue 1 Reprints avaliable Photocopying Page 22-29 directly from permited by the publishers license only

Tradition to Innovation Through Architectural Space: A Case Study on Turgut Cansever Özge Kandemira, Özlem Mumcu Uçara a Department of Interior Design, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Eskisehir Technical University, Eskisehir,

Keywords: Modernism, Tradition, Innovation, Turgut Cansever, Aga Khan Awards

Abstract This study aims to reveal the spatial interpre- tations born of tradition and headed for new in a world where modern thought still influences the way space is handled. Reaching a contemporary synthesis with inno- vative approaches by realizing social values on a local scale seems a potential. Here, tradition is considered as an indispensable source of contemporary expansions for the future with its original historical data of the past. Reach- ing original works in the fields of design requires going beyond the formal approach, which includes global repe- titions disconnected from context and tracking historical clues forming the tradition. It is seen that the repetitions of the past forms today cannot function as a dynamic syn- thesis. Thus primarily starting point should be intellectual production instead of formal production. So, architect-in- tellectual Turgut Cansever, aiming the change, transfor- mation, the forward-thinking, and known for his thoughts never conceding his dissenting identity, constitutes the sample of this study. Cansever, following Western thought's footsteps, but positing against the context repro- ducing it formally, is considered essential. Therefore he is evaluated with his intellectual background to create the original, and his projects deserved the Aga Khan Award. Journal of Sketchle

1. Introduction Today, as Delanty states, while alienation comes into question both within the self and in The main characteristic of modernity is that it offers a different way of life than the tradi- the relations between the self and the other (Delanty, 2003), the alienated human being, tional systems before, and it is historically unique. This uniqueness also indicates a break which is an abstraction, has lost its connection with everything that is specific to the hu- from traditional systems. This rupture brings the concept of alienation that emerges with man. The human is reduced to performing an undifferentiated work on indistinguishable the speed of change. While science, technology, and industry are developing rapidly on a objects (Ollman, 1976). In this context, modernist design has become the home of intellect large scale, the socio-cultural structure is changing, and values are being lost. As a result and eye, but it has made our body, other senses, and also our memories, imagination, and of this, people become alienated from social life and it’s places. This study primarily deals dreams become homeless (Pallasma, 2005). With this feature, alienation gradually weak- with criticizing modernity and alienation and evaluating the relationships between tradi- ens the bond between old and new while transforming the future into an unpredictable, tion-essence-innovation as a part of the solution. Cansever and his Aga Khan Award win- uncertain space. In such a world, it becomes increasingly difficult to find value and mean- ner practices with his interpretation of the relationship between tradition- essence-in- ing that can be taken as a reference for space and human for design areas. novation have been examined as tangible examples that exist with their universal values. But in Wittgenstein's words, the only flaw of a perfect picture of the world, free of all prejudices, free of values, naked and defined in a precise language, is that it looks like a 2. Method flat surface covered with ice and without any friction. The floor has been polished, ev- This study is a review. Here, the data obtained from the international and national stud- erything has been defined, and a foundation has been created for the mind where it has ies have been revealed using descriptive research and analysis techniques. Some of the functioned flawlessly. But it is not possible to walk on this ground for this reason. Even visuals have been obtained from printed and electronic sources, and the others have been if a foundation free from prejudices is found, if this foundation is not wanted to be lost specially created as an analysis form for this study. when it is found, it should be made to be walked on. (as cited, Armağan, 1998). In this sit- uation, in Cansever's words, for change to be meaningful, there must be something con- 3. Findings stant. When everything changes, change loses its meaning, so an environment of chaos In the modern world, everything is alien to what existed before it. There is no organic can occur (Cansever, 2007). In this case, even to create an opposing idea, a data to be tak- connection between the old and the new. Due to the relationship with the existent before en as reference and ground to be stepped on becomes necessary. At this point, "tradition" itself, the present moment is also suspicious and known to be alien in the future. The next is considered one of the sources containing this ground with its vital relationship with moment is a series of nothingnesses. The future is an unpredictable, foggy area. In such the past, present, and future. a world, there is no value or meaning that can be taken as reference. Modern conscious- ness continually lives in a suspicious perception of the present time, and everyday life 3.1. Tradition Concept experiences take place in this emotion (Yırtıcı, 2005). In this case, in Harvey's words, if Although there are many expansions regarding the definition of tradition in the historical modern life is indeed so suffused with the sense of the fleeting, the ephemeral, the frag- process, it is seen that the most basic way to define tradition is to emphasize its “hand- mentary, and the contingent, then a number of profound consequences follow. To begin to-hand” quality. In the words of Armağan, both the epistemology of the word tradition with, modernity can have no respect even for its own past, let alone that of any premod- in Turkish “gelenek” (from word “gelmek”, “gel-e-n-ek”) and the less-used Arabic equiv- ern social order. The transitoriness of things makes it difficult to preserve any sense of alent of the word "an'ane" emphasize enough that tradition is something "coming" from historical continuity (Harvey, 1992). While this situation has the effect of alienation, in previous people in terms of time (Armağan, 1998). The point that needs to be carefully Connerton's statement, alienation transforms the past into a foreign country and makes emphasized here is that if the tradition cannot come to the current era, cannot live in the present increasingly similar (Connerton, 2009). On the other hand, alienation refers it, and becomes alienated from it, it cannot remain as a tradition. In this case, it is seen to being “alien” against the mechanical system and machine based on causation, which is that the continuation of the tradition depends on staying away from "formal" references. the product of the human's own activity (Tunalı, 2002). Here, it becomes necessary to stay contemporary with new syntheses and come up with contemporary answers and solutions to today's problems. Özer (1993) states that tradition corresponds to all the activities, events, ritual habits, and the objects produced by them, coming from the past in the historical process but still valid and current. In the words of Bektaş (1999), tradition corresponds to what survived from the culture of living, which belongs to a region, a climate, a community. Those that have not reached this state cannot be called tradition; they can only be the subject of history. To be a part of the tradition, they have to be ahead of it, not somewhere in the past. Ex- tending the line of tradition to the future can only be possible by creating a contemporary approach. At this point, Hobsbawm states that all traditionally called practices are actually inter- twined with practices considered modern. Tradition is not an unchanging phenomenon or situation that occurs in a particular place. Traditions are continually being recreated (Hobsbawm, 2006). In short, tradition corresponds to the past in the present, in Shils's words (Shils, 2002). And McLean (2004) points out that one of the most fundamental problems of the tradition is its relationship with the present. If the present is simply a

24 Journal of Sketchle destructive repetition of what has already happened, life will lose its ability to move for- modern architecture and the interdisciplinary thinking, working and synthesis ability he ward, progress will be denied in principle, and hopes will fade. developed as a result of them. In this context, Cansever has been questioned the historical In this case, Gadamer refers to the relationship between tradition and free creation. development of the form from part to whole, the place and structure of the form in the According to him, although the tradition created by a great actor, director, or musician whole, and the meaning and values exist behind them. continues as a model, it is not the brake of free creation. On the contrary, it activates the Cansever, who uses his knowledge of art and architectural history to contribute to the "creative interpretative" powers of the artist (Gadamer, 2008). In this context, Cansev- intellectual dimension of his architecture, has always been interested in philosophical er is evaluated with his interpretation of tradition with his discourse and practices that foundations and has been designed based on history, anthropology, theology, and so- inspire those who come after him in architectural production. The architectural works ciology. In this context, with Kaplan's (2009) words, Cansever, who argued that people that received the Aga Khan award are presented with the basic approaches behind their should have a deep-rooted but complete concept of existence, knowledge, and truth while creations. creating work. In all theoretical and practical works, in life, science, thought, culture, art, politics, and daily life, he shows how a language, attitude, thought, and spirit can be pro- 3.2. Turgut Cansever in the Relationship Between Tradition and Innovation duced not confrontational but liberating, not exclusionary, but embracing and also the For Turgut Cansever, it is seen that every kind of tradition is more than a tool providing principles, sources and horizons of those. formal data. Cansever has interpreted the tradition to develop solutions for the future by Cansever also exhibits an approach that sheds light on the present and the future by benefiting from the historical experience with the essence and value system that consti- seeking ways to combine universal thinking with local solutions, except for the possibili- tutes it. As Cansever (2002) stated, tradition is not just about shape; the point is to devel- ty of completely opposing or blindly devoted to tradition. This approach mainly contains op a solution for the future, based on the "essence", "cultural content", "belief system" and a contradiction. As Cansever (2007) puts it, there is a fundamental contradiction in which "historical experience" that allow the tradition to form. all human enterprises are involved. The universal and the local, that is, the solution that This effort of Turgut Cansever, who turned his direction to the West to understand it will be valid forever, and the solution that is valid for a place and a time, can be thought and traveled all over Europe, enabled comparison and cross-reading with the words of of as if they have opposite purposes. But the resolution of contradictions is a human task. Sönmez and Selçuk (2016). It is primarily possible to see the effects of the East-West The greater the contrast in resolving the most opposing issues, the greater the solution synthesis on his products created after these travels. What is meant by "product" here is emerges. Everything becomes meaningful with its contrast. The main point for human beyond mere architectural work. There are many intangible and tangible products like beings is to bring these contrasts together and to place both in a noticeable and resolved architectural analysis, abstraction techniques, to establish his own representation sys- unity at the same time. tem, to develop new methods on expression, to touch interdisciplinary fields with an ar- This is the state of being between history and the future and of being tied to the past chaeological approach by descending to the origin of the local and folkloric, to discover and extending into the future. At this point, Cansever speaks of two responsibilities: Re- the power of cultural and sociological connections in modern architectural studies and to specting the past experience and looking at how to find solutions to its teachings under develop ways of looking and interpreting the world. current conditions, and also not forgetting that the solution to be brought forward is a The basis of Cansever's mentality and the products he reveals are undoubtedly, his pas- responsibility for the future. In this context, Cansever believes that an architect has re- sion for painting, his architectural education from the State Academy of Fine sponsibilities (horizontal responsibility) towards art, people, his environment, and the Arts after , the philosophy lessons he followed at the Istanbul world; He believes that this responsibility should be not only to today but also to yester- Faculty of Literature, and his doctoral dissertation titled “Column Headings in Ottoman day and tomorrow (vertical-temporal responsibility). He makes these ideas visible with and Seljuk Architecture”, his associate professor thesis on the fundamental issues of his words and projects in architecture and urbanism, which are the primary synthesis in practice. The most prominent of these projects on the national and international scale are the Aga-Han Awarded applications.

3.3. Aga Khan Approach and Turgut Cansever Ağa Khan Architecture Awards are given from 1977 to today, with the transfer of the primary source AKDN (2021), mainly to create effects on the modernist discourse, to respond to the needs and wishes of societies, and to support and encourage the devel- opment of innovative solutions to the problems they encounter. Besides the Western ar- chitectural discourse, successful embodiments of the architectural discourse rising from the East are evaluated with its characteristics of sustainability, human scale, adaptation to the climate, and quality of life. In this context, the most important criteria for the proj- ects that apply for the award are to use local resources and appropriate technology in innovative ways and to be a source of inspiration for other projects. Projects that are can- didates for the award must be implemented and used at least for one year to be evaluated. Aga Khan Awards are given every three years to all types of projects that set new stan- dards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation, and land- scape architecture. These projects have been implemented in urban and rural contexts.

25 Journal of Sketchle

They have a wide range from small-scale buildings to large complexes, from detached houses to bus stops, from rural school buildings to skyscrapers, from infrastructure and transport systems to residential groups, from education and healthcare buildings to new towns, from urban conservation projects to projects focusing the reusing of areas con- taining hazardous materials.

The projects are evaluated with detailed documentation on use, cost, environmental and climatic factors, construction materials, construction schedule, structural integrity and ongoing maintenance, and more importantly, design concepts, along with photographs, architectural drawings. It is also necessary to verify project data and to examine user responses on site. The jury has a multidisciplinary structure where architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and independent experts in history, philosophy, art, engi- neering, and architectural conservation come together. Since a winning project's success can be a product of various individuals, groups, and organizations, the award is shared among those who contributed to the project's success, like architects, other design and construction professionals, craftsmen, customers, and institutions. Turgut Cansever's projects, which are evaluated within this framework and have caused him to be the only architect to receive the Aga Han Architecture Award three times in the world, are Turkish Historical Society Building (1980), Ertegün House Project (1980), and Demir Holiday Houses (1992). Here, these projects are teachings with their main design approaches.

Turkish Historical Society Completed: 1966 Cansever, worried about the one-sided rise of western architecture in since the 1930s, did not reject all elements of international architecture in the design of the Turk- ish Historical Society building but used the combination of this style with technology. Cansever, in general, has aimed to adapt the culture of the region that he is designing his building to architecture and technology. He has made the plan features and layout of Ear- ly Turkish architecture available to a new use through modern technology. The madrasa planning was used as a model in the building of the Turkish Historical Society. Examples of Seljuk madrasahs in Anatolia were used as a source of inspiration here, and the design of the building was taken from the madrasa's interior character. Spaces and circulation towards this area are arranged around a central inner courtyard used as the focal point of all activities performed within the building, reflecting the introverted character of tra- ditional buildings.

26 Journal of Sketchle

This courtyard can also be regarded as a continuation of the city space protected from the outside. Natural light is taken into this building in different ways, in the central court- yard, which is lit from the roof. While the light is used to apply the public character to the central space, more private and intimate values are used in the circulation spaces. Both industrial and handmade materials were used in the building's design, overlapping with each other, and the contrasts between their qualities were emphasized. For example, the use of Ankara stone as a local material, with shiny aluminum and reinforced concrete … The feedback obtained from the building users, which emerges as a result of the harmo- ny between the customer, the architect, and the user, is the evidence of user satisfaction, which is an essential factor in this building's award.

Residence of Ahmet Ertegün Completed: 1973 The Ertegün House Project is an approach that includes the restoration, reconstruction of the house initially named as Salih Efendi Mansion, and these projects aimed at expanding the living space in the form of adding two rooms on the garden side and re-opening it. High standard local materials and craft are used in the building, an example of Turk- ish Mediterranean architecture. The building incorporates all the style and construction technology of the surrounding local architecture at the highest level. Designing a house that can change, creating the possibility of change, enabling the building to be opened and closed according to time and season summarizes Cansever's basic approach in this project. Cansever has used many materials to distinguish the old and the new. He has avoided imitation and decoration and showed that an old structure can be transformed into a modern and functional home. The building's approach is essential in terms of being a beginning for its immediate surroundings and and setting an example for the coexistence of old and new. In Cansever's words, when we say a building restoration, it is necessary to realize what is beautiful there. As an architect, there are points when you say, “I want to take a strong step,” during a decision. Where are the places that the person or persons who built the structure say we have to take a decisive step on their own? As a result, it is essential to understand well “what exists” and its constituent truth and period, the process it has gone through, and also essential to be able to multiply its value with the new structure and to say the right word.

27 Journal of Sketchle

Demir Holiday Villas Completed: 1987-1990 Demir Holiday Houses are the product of an approach that is compatible with the ar- chitectural heritage of the environment, namely the Greek, Byzantine, and Ottoman lay- ers, by using appropriate local building materials and can be modern at the same time.

28 Journal of Sketchle

The main concern of Cansever, who integrates the planning of twenty villa types, and the main issue he considers is to protect the environment and focus on the region's comfort. The harmony of the cultural and natural environment and the newly designed has been ensured. The residences are placed in a way that they do not cross each other's sea views and are not positioned on any grid. The houses' mass values have been controlled to cap- ture the effect of a natural residential area. The combination of old and new materials is well balanced, and a forward-thinking approach has been adopted on the redesign of tra- ditional forms of local architecture. Creating a suitable environment for the inhabitants and designing understated interiors, well-made, and skillfully placed residences are high standard architectural design products. As a result, in this project, which is considered to have an architectural language suitable for the housing tradition of Bodrum, attention has been paid to the manifestation of values and behaviors such as composition, respect to the rules of nature, simplicity, clarity, neighborhood relations in architecture.

29 Journal of Sketchle

4. Results Bektaş, C. (2016). : “Benim Geleneği Sürdürebilmem İçin, Önce Çağdaş Ol- As Baudelaire was very quick to see, if flux and change, ephemerality and fragmentation, ması Lazım” / Söyleşi: Nezih Aysel Mimarist. (57), s. 63-69. formed the material basis of modern life, then the de notion of a modernist aesthetic depended crucially upon the artist's positioning with respect to such processes, The in- Cansever, T. (2002). Kubbeyi yere koymamak. İz Yayıncılık, İstanbul. dividual artist could contest them, embrace them, try to dominate them, or simply swim within them, but the artist could never ignore them (Harvey,1997). With his identity as Cansever, T. (2007). Kubbeyi Yere Koymamak, Timaş Yayınları, İstanbul. an artist and a designer, Cansever was able to make all these inquiries aimed at creating the original and made his synthesis open to us, the readers, through the projects men- Connerton, P. (2009). How modernity forgets. Cambridge University Press. tioned above. What makes Cansever valuable is that he can create a "work" based on solid Delanty, G. (2003). Community. Oxon: Routledge. foundations without losing the connections with the tradition and, after all, reading the tradition and the era deeply. With the words of Turgut Cansever, what is wrong today is Gadamer, H. G. (2008). Hakikat ve Yöntem. Birinci Cilt-Paradigma Yayıncılık. that we have closed our eyes to most of history. Conversely, it will be possible to see how small a place western modernism occupies in human history. Instead of confining our- Harvey, D. (1997). Postmodernliğin Durumu. Çeviren: Sungur Savran, Metis Yayınları, selves to that small place, we should look at history's integrity and see that modernism İstanbul. also has points to be overcome. We should perceive it not as an unchangeable goal but as a stage, a new realization point. With the integrity of all of these, like our own historical Hobsbawm, E. (2006). Geleneğin İcadı, Agora Kitaplığı, İstanbul. experience, we should offer complete and continuous solutions to humanity. Kaplan, Y. (2009). Bir Medeniyet Mimarı, Türk Edebiyatı, Aylık Fikir ve Sanat Dergisi (426), s. 5. Discussion It is seen that different people and studies are questioning what the place and importance Kuban, D. (2015). Doğan Kuban Yazıları Antolojisi, 1. Cilt. Sanat, Mimarlık, Toplum Kültürü of Turgut Cansever in Turkish architecture is. Some of them argued that Cansever was Üzerine Makaleler. Boyut Yayınları. İstanbul. an interpreter of modern and Islamic architecture. Some of them asserted that he was one of the essential representatives of regionalism discussed in the post-modern period McLEAN, G. F., (2004). Yaşayan Düşünce Olarak Gelenek. Çev: Dr. Hafsa Fidan. or a part of the historicism movement. The study has been handled with the awareness bilimname VI, (3), s.23-40. of all these discussions on Cansever. Here, his way of creating, which sheds light on the present and the future by seeking contemporary ways of combining local solutions with Ollman, B. (1976). Alienation-Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society. Cambridge universal thought, except for the possibility of blindly loyal to the tradition or complete- University Press. ly opposing it, especially examined. With the discourse of Kuban (2015), creation takes place in thought or art. Creation is revealed in the synthesis where the present, not rebel- Özer, B. (1993). Yorumlar Kültür Sanat Mimarlık. Yapı-Endüstri Merkezi Yayınları, İstanbul. ling against tradition but absorbed the past, melts the contrasts. Isn't a sensitivity that has moved away from prejudices a characteristic of the real artist? Pallasmaa, J. (2005). The eyes of the skin. Great Britain: Wiley-Academy.

6. Suggestion Shils, E.(2002). Gelenek. İnsan Bilimlerine Prolegomena. H. Arslan (drl. ve çev.). İstanbul: In this study's scope, it is essential to consider historical data in the field of culture as a Paradigma Yayıncılık. source that feeds contemporary inspiration and to consider tradition as an indispensable area of data specific to a dynamic background and future expansions. With the words Sönmez, F. ve Arslan Seçuk, S. (2016). Seyahatler Aracılığıyla Dünyayı Görme, Seziş ve of Cengiz Bektaş, it is evident that the tradition must first be contemporary to continue, Yorumlama: Turgut Cansever Üzerine Bir Aktif Okuma / Düşünme. Ege Mimarlık (1-92), and the way to do this is to avoid making formal copies (Bektaş, 2016). In the creation of s.38-41. innovation, the view that tradition constitutes the basis for new interpretations and that it always contains valuable data for today and the future has been tried to be put forward. In Tanyeli, U., Yücel, A (2007). Turgut Cansever: Düşünce Adamı ve Mimar, Ofset Yapımevi, this direction, Cansever's views and the projects that received the Aga Khan award have İstanbul. been evaluated with an exemplary approach in ensuring historical continuity with con- temporary interpretations fed by tradition in our country. It is expected that the obtained Tanyeli, U. (2007). Mimarlığın Aktörleri, Türkiye 1900-2000, Ofset Yapımevi. data will form the basis for raising awareness on the subject. Tunalı, İ. (2002). Tasarım Felsefesine Giriş. Yapı-Endüstri Merkezi Yayınları. 7. References Armağan, M. (1998). Gelenek ve Modernlik Arasında, İz Yayıncılık, İstanbul. Yırtıcı, H. (2005). Çağdaş Kapitalizmin Mekânsal Örgütlenmesi, İstanbul Bilgi Üniv. Yayınları.

Bektaş, C. (1999). Kültür Sanat Gelenek Mimarlık. Mimarlık Dergisi. (287), s. 33. http://www.turgutcansever.com

30 Journal of Sketchle www.arkitera.com/gundem_5_aga-han-mimarlik-odulleri.html http://archnet.org

AKDN, (Aga Khan Development Network) www.akdn.org

31